Quantifying Hitler’s Salon: A Statistical Analysis of Subjects at the Great German Art Exhibition, 1937-1944 Patrick J. Jung Department of Humanities, Social Science, and Communication Milwaukee School of Engineering Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53202, USA Email:
[email protected] Abstract: In recent decades, scholars have reassessed earlier historical interpretations that argued German art produced during the Nazi era was little more than kitsch. This reassessment has occurred in part due to the increased accessibility to the various sources required to thoroughly research Nazi-era art. The availability of the artistic oeuvre of the Third Reich has been enhanced by the 2012 launch of the online database Grosse deutsche Kunstausstellung, 1937-1944. This database makes possible a quantitative analysis of the artworks exhibited at Adolf Hitler’s annual art exhibition, the Grosse deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition), from 1937 to 1944. Tabulating the information found in this database indicates that landscapes and related works constituted the dominant subject category. Portraits, nudes, and depictions of animals were also significant, but overtly political art was uncommon. The subjects of Nazi-era art reflected the racial ideology of the Third Reich, but several subject categories remain largely unexamined in this respect. This essay provides statistical evidence that supports many of the scholarly interpretations concerning these subject categories and suggests new directions for future research. Keywords: Third Reich, Nazi-era art, Great German Art Exhibition, Adolf Hitler Introduction: Reassessing Nazi-Era Art Prior to the 1970s, art historians generally dismissed Nazi-era art as mere kitsch and the product of a dictatorship that had suppressed modernist styles.